RQG 95 - Apophis Awaits
Summary The party finally find out the secrets of Hamid's past. Hamid spills his dark and dirty backstory including Gideon and death, and the party go to meet Apophis to plead for Sasha to get the Heart of Aphrodite. Synopsis Quotes * Alex: I got a plan guys. You ready for the plan? The plan is, no abject misery in this episode. * Helen: You’ve said that for like the past 10 episodes. -- * Hamid: Gideon…was like Bertie…but worse. He took active pleasure in being mean to people. But, he was much much better at making it seem like he wasn’t. He was my best friend. I…arrived in England at the age of fifteen, at a new school. I was the only halfling there, I was the only brown-skinned person there. I didn’t speak English very well back then. It was full of incredibly rich British people, so you can imagine how well that went. * I figured out after a little while that…the best way not to be their target was to be their friend. So, I did everything I could to make myself one of them. I became a bully too..and from that moment on, me and Gideon were…and then I went to Cambridge. And I thought, maybe I could leave him behind, but he was there too. And I tried to make friends with new people, and for a little while it worked, I met Liliana. I switched to studying magic. It didn’t go so well. I could never have been a wizard. I didn’t know that at the time. I couldn’t do even the simplest spells…and then suddenly I could, except it was easy when they’d always said it would be hard, and so I stopped listening to them all together. * I started hanging out with Gideon a lot more. And by this point, he…well, he was like Bertie, he went wherever he wanted, did whatever he wanted, and tried to make people suffer. There was this one professor that he really hated…and we were playing a prank. I mean, you call it a prank at the time, it doesn’t seem funny in retrospect. He made me work up the formula for this…it was like an alchemist’s thing, it was supposed to just pop, and sizzle, and stink. It was supposed to be just the professor alone in the classroom. I…wrote down the formula wrong. And then Gideon doubled all the quantities. And the classroom wasn’t empty. The professor was a powerful wizard and managed to get most of the class out, but not all of them. And he…couldn’t save himself either. I still…see their faces sometimes. * I got kicked out. Liliana dumped me. I left Cambridge behind. I hoped I’d left Gideon behind forever. Sometimes I worried that with Bertie I was getting back into the bad habits, but I tried to be better. I’m gonna keep trying to be better. And I just…I know how easy it is to think that what you’re doing is okay when the people around you are telling you that it’s okay, and you feel like you don’t have a choice, and you feel like just one more thing and you’ll be able to escape. And I…I felt like the same thing happened to Saleh, and I thought I could give him the chance I had. And I see…that I shouldn’t have. And I’m sorry I let you guys down. And if you don’t want to work with me anymore, if you don’t want to be part of an adventuring group with me…I’ll understand. -- * Grizzop: Sounds like you’re learning. And wallowing in self pity isn’t gonna get you anywhere. * Azu: How long ago was this? * Hamid: Nearly a year. * Sasha: Oh wait, so that would be only a short while before… * Hamid: A few months, I got kicked out of Cambridge, moved down to London, wasted a few months, and then decided to join an adventuring group. * Sasha: Ah, so nice coincidence that you walked into me getting attacked. * Hamid: Sort of, yeah. * Grizzop: Why did you decide to do this? You know, join an adventuring group. * Hamid: It sounds stupid, it sounds childish, I wanted to…make up for what I did. I thought that…my parents wanted me to become a merchant, I just thought, I’m not improving anyone’s life if I become a merchant. * Grizzop: That is the best answer you could have given. -- * Hamid: I haven’t really made anyone’s life better have I, Grizzop? * Grizzop: Have you tried? * Hamid: Just keep making mistakes, don’t I? * Grizzop: Have you tried? Have you genuinely tried? * Hamid: Of course! Every single moment, that’s all… * Azu: You’ve saved the world, so you’ve improved everyone’s… * Hamid: Have I? Have I though? Cause what we did in Paris, I thought it was necessary, but Zolf disagreed, and clearly the world is not better. And when we got to Prague, I got…I was useless, what did I do? I didn’t do anything. * Grizzop: That sort of self-doubt won’t get you anywhere. * Azu: And the world is still here. * Grizzop: The point is you tried. Genuinely tried. That’s all you can do. * Sasha: And you hit a few zombies with your lights. That’s always useful. And you’re very rarely sick! * Ben: I’m just gonna give Sasha a look. * Sasha: What? He’s getting better. * Hamid: Thank you, Sasha, that actually… * Sasha: You didn’t see how much he was sick early on. He’s trying! * Hamid: I haven’t! You’re right, it’s been a while. * Sasha: It’s great! He didn’t used to like fights very much. * Hamid: Violence was a real problem when we first started. But, I’ve gotten better. * Grizzop: Point is you’re trying, and you’re learning. * Azu: None of us are perfect. * Grizzop: And if you genuinely want to do good, then, let’s get on with it instead of feeling sad for ourselves. * Azu: And we’re here to help you. * Hamid: Thank you. * Grizzop: Your sausages are getting cold. -- * Wilde: How did you get here so quickly? * Sasha: We got friends, Wilde. * Hamid: We discussed this. We got teleported. We said we would get teleported. * Wilde: But who did you find to teleport you, it took me days. It’s been a nightmare. * Hamid: Didn’t seem that hard to us. * Sasha: Yeah, people like talking to us. * Grizzop: It’s our little secret really. * Sasha: Being not awful. I’m dead and I still find it easier to have friends than you do. * Grizzop: We might tell our good friends, people that we don’t find incredibly irritating and unprofessional. So, shall we carry on and you can take us to see Apophis? * Wilde: I like you better, Azu. Just saying. You’re polite. * Azu: I like you too. * Sasha: Wait until he makes a joke about your death. * Wilde: I wouldn’t be so callous. * Alex: You can seem him visibly restraining about three different puns, * Wilde: So, you know, time’s wasting… * Sasha: I’m wasting away, ey. I’m wasting away. Cause I’ve got a wasting illness, yeah? * Wilde: The trick’s not explaining them. -- * They're required to remove weapons before seeing Apophis and Sasha starts taking off daggers. * Lydia: Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. ''Looks at people, begins to move toward… * '''Bryn:' Hamid gives the slightest cough. * Lydia: Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Then looks very hesitant clanking her favorite ice dagger down, looks at Hamid like he’s ruined her Sunday walk in the park. Clank. While maintaining eye contact, now you’ve knocked over her ice cream. * Bryn: Hamid raises an eyebrow. * Lydia: Clank. That’s the fire one. Then, “Wait, no,” she reaches behind inside her leather jacket and then, like, three bombs. And then begins to sort of bring the bag of sulfur that she carries and then is like, “ehhh,” that goes back in the pocket. So, that is, I think, all of her…wait, wait…then Clank. Cause she had a tanglefoot bag. * Bryn: Hamid turns to go, he’s pretty sure that she’s given them all up. * Sasha: Yeah, that is all of them. * Clerk: Do try to avoid using magic, not because it’s illegal or anything, but we have quite a lot of wards and protections in here that will go off, and it might just cause a bit of a fuss. So, do try to avoid it. * Sasha: Will any of them damage my daggers? * Clerk: No, no, no. * Sasha: That one’s my favorite. So if anyone comes along, just shout and I’ll come back for them. * Clerk: Oh it’s fine, if anyone comes in unannounced, they’ll get a maximized fireball to the face. It’s all good. That’s sort of what I’m here for. * Sasha: Will that damage the daggers? * Clerk: No, no, you’re absolutely fine, I’m rather good at this. * Lydia: Sasha, like, puts her hands, pats everything, and, like, there’s one sneaky one that’s been sewn into the collar. * Sasha: Ahhh, sorry. Clank. Yeah. -- * Apophis to Sasha: You would ask for the Heart of Aphrodite? * Sasha: Um, well, I mean, so I’ve been, I’m told that that’s, um, I mean, you know, if I have to die, I have to die, I guess. * Apophis: What do you know of the reasons for us withholding this item. * Sasha: Nothing really. Look, they said, right, um…yeah, they just said that it might, it might help, but if, if, if it’s too much, uh, trouble, then that’s, then… * Apophis: Wilde, stand. * Alex: Wilde steps forward. Tell you what, doesn’t seem quite so sarcastic or up himself right now, the model of demure obedience. * Apophis: I find myself torn. Our reasons for withholding such items and considered and correct. Yet, I hear from your representative, gesturing to Wilde, that you have proven yourself beyond irreplaceable. * Sasha: What, he actually used those words? * Alex: The rest of the group can’t see, but you can because you’re beside him. Wilde winces. * Apophis: I believe your words were “singular talent?” * Alex: He winces yet more. * Sasha: Well, he could mean anything by that. Yeah, right, okay, good, I guess. * Apophis: And surrounds herself with honorable and talented individuals who have been serving the Meritocrats almost perfectly, from what I hear. * Sasha muttering: Almost? I just, I mean, I don’t know what I could have done better, really. I’ve killed a lot of bad people, probably some good ones… * Hamid: I have to say, sir, that nothing that we have accomplished would have happened without Sasha. She’s done more than any other person in terms of the accomplishments we’ve made over the last few months. Times when I’ve fallen or started to give up, she’s the one who’s been able to carry on and none of it would have happened without her. * Sasha still muttering: I just gotta have more daggers. That’s the trick. I just need lots of them. -- * Apophis: Paladins, would you step forward for me. I would ask your council. The Meritocratic choice to withhold items and rituals of unparalleled power was not made lightly, and was not popular. The Heart of Aphrodite would allow simple risk free resurrections. The actual rituals for resurrections have been outlawed for an extremely long time, in your years. These decisions were made in the hopes that it might encourage equality, that it might encourage human development towards such things. To waive this would constitute an act against this decision, which even now we do not necessarily believe was incorrect. As representatives of Aphrodite and Artemis, I find myself curious, in my situation, how would you rule? * Azu: Well, it is the Heart of Aphrodite, so…it’s a healing item. We would share it, as that is our creed. * Apophis: And what would you do when one hundred turn up and you may resurrect two, then four hundred turn up, and you may resurrect two. And so on, and so on. -- * Apophis: It is easy for people to presume that, as a Meritocrat, I consider myself beyond the realm of mundanity. That is not the case. But I have yet to receive council from anyone who could justify this act and make it work. I am more than willing to do so when that council is provided. * Grizzop: Well, not really the kind of person to deal with something like this. More of a doer. * Apophis: This is why I asked your council. * Grizzop: She ain’t dead. * Apophis: A fair point. * Grizzop: So, you know. But she’s gonna die. And you can stop it. We’re supposed to help people, so, you know. The decision seems clear to me. But as I said, I’m not, you know, whatever. * Apophis: Don’t imply, speak plainly and I will not judge you for doing so. * Grizzop: Yes, I would immediately. * Apophis: And when people find out about it? * Grizzop: Not my problem, as I said, I’m a doer, you know. * Sasha: We’re, we’re good at not talking. * Grizzop: You asked if given the choice I would, and yes, I would. So, there you go. That’s my honest answer. Dice rolls and Mechanics Plot Notes Category:Season 3 Category:Episode